Akamai Releases Fourth Quarter 2011 'State of the Internet' Report

Number of unique IP addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ increased to more than 628 million

South Korea boasts both highest average connection speed and highest average peak connection speed

China top source of observed attack traffic

Report incorporates four-year trending data, illustrating how Internet connectivity has improved over time

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, today released its Fourth Quarter, 2011 State of the Internet report. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as Internet penetration, mobile traffic and data consumption, origins of attack traffic, IPv6 adoption and global and regional connection speeds.

Marking the end of its first four years of publication, the Fourth Quarter, 2011 State of the Internet report includes a section highlighting trending data for several key categories. Compiled to show changes over time in important State of the Internet report statistics, this data and corresponding analysis provide a snapshot of just how much Internet connectivity has changed since Akamai began publishing the report in 2008.

Highlights from Akamai's 2011 fourth quarter report:

Global Internet Penetration

In the fourth quarter of 2011, more than 628 million unique IP addresses from 236 countries and regions connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform. This represents 2.1 percent more IP addresses than connected in the third quarter of 2011, and an increase of 13 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Among those countries listed in the top 10 list for the number of unique IP addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform during the quarter, the United Kingdom represented the most significant quarter-over-quarter increase at 13 percent, increasing to more than 25 million IP addresses. Russia’s 6.9 percent growth to almost 14 million IP addresses represented the next largest percentage growth rate. A 3.4 percent increase in China brought that country’s unique IP address total to more than 84 million.

Attack Traffic and Top Ports Attacked

In the fourth quarter of 2011, China, at 13 percent, generated the most attack traffic observed by Akamai. The United States (10 percent) and Indonesia (7.6 percent) rounded out the top three. Total observed attack traffic aggregated by region shows that Asia Pacific/Oceania generated 45 percent of such attack traffic, Europe 33 percent, the Americas just less than 20 percent, and Africa a mere two percent.

In an examination of attack traffic concentration among the top 10 targeted ports, the report found that the top 10 ports account for 65 percent of the observed attacks. Port 445 (Microsoft-DS) ended 2011 at the top of the list being targeted by 25 percent of observed attack traffic.

Geography appears to play a role in frequency of observed attacks on specific ports. For example, Port 23 (Telnet) is a favorite target for attacks observed to be originating from South Korea and Turkey, where it accounted for more than five times the number of attacks targeting the next most popular port (445 in both countries). Other instances of geography-based port targeting include observed attacks centered on Port 1433 (Microsoft SQL Server) in China and on Port 80 (WWW/HTTP) in Indonesia.

100 Fastest Cities Worldwide

In the fourth quarter of 2011, analysis of the top 100 fastest cities around the world, based on average connection speeds, reflected the following:

Cities in the Asia Pacific region continued to dominate the list of the 100 fastest cities worldwide. 69 cities including 61 in Japan, six in South Korea, one in Australia, as well as Hong Kong made the top 100.

24 cities in North America ranked among the top 100, including two in Canada and 22 in the United States.

Seven cities in Europe, including three in Sweden, two in Switzerland and one each in Romania and Latvia were included in the top 100.

Moving to High Broadband Connectivity

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 27 percent of all connections to the Akamai Intelligent Platform were made at high broadband speeds (>5 Mbps). Taking the top spot in high broadband adoption was South Korea, with 83 percent of the country’s connections to Akamai above 5 Mbps. Within the list of top 10 countries for high broadband adoption, seven are in Europe. The Netherlands, which reached 67 percent high broadband adoption, is ahead of all European nations and number two on the top 10 list. The United States ranks twelfth at 44 percent.

Mobile Connection Speeds and Data Consumption

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the average measured connection speed for known mobile providers worldwide ranged from a high of slightly more than 5 Mbps to a low of 163 kbps. Approximately 75 percent of the surveyed providers had average connection speeds above 1 Mbps.

Analysis of peak connection speeds for the mobile providers worldwide for which Akamai analyzed data showed that there is still a wide range of speeds being achieved. For example, a provider in Germany that had an average peak connection speed of 23.4 Mbps was the fastest while an operator in Thailand was the slowest, at 1.6 Mbps. Of all the mobile providers analyzed, only three – one in Germany, one in Austria and one in Canada – achieved average peak connection speeds above 20 Mbps, while 32 achieved average peak connection speeds above 10 Mbps and 48 recorded average peak connection speeds greater than 5 Mbps. Only two mobile providers surveyed did not achieve an average peak connection speed above 2 Mbps.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, users at eight of the surveyed mobile providers consumed an average of 1 GB or more per month delivered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform. Users at 75 of the surveyed providers consumed greater than 100 MB per month of content from Akamai, and users at the remaining 19 providers consumed less than 100 MB per month.

Through its relationship with Ericsson, Akamai again included data collected by the equipment provider in the State of the Internet report. According to Ericsson, the volume of mobile data traffic in the fourth quarter of 2011 doubled year-over-year and grew 28 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Trends over Time

The Fourth Quarter, 2011 State of the Internet report includes a new section that will appear annually going forward and that tracks trends over time for key metrics including average connection speeds, average peak connection speeds, high broadband adoption, narrowband adoption, and others recorded since the report's inception in 2008. Some of the trends observed include:

On a year-over-year basis, average connection speeds in Asia increased 13 percent while Internet users in Oceania have witnessed a 132 percent increase.

Average peak connection speeds in Africa were 55 percent faster than four years ago while users in South America have experienced a 238 percent increase

Since 2008, South America has seen a 558 percent increase in high broadband adoption, yet still ranks just above Africa in total high broadband penetration.

Narrowband adoption continued to decline globally with all regions reporting similar percentage declines (64-78 percent).

About the Akamai State of the Internet report

Each quarter, Akamai publishes a "State of the Internet" report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. To learn more and to access the archive of past reports, please visit state of the internet report.

Please join the report's editor, David Belson at 8:00 a.m. ET or 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 10, 2012 for a live State of the Internet report webcast. Belson will provide in-depth analysis on the report's findings and answer attendee questions. Register online at http://reg.dispeak.com/c/akamai/soti/soti-may12/r.html.

About Akamai

Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company’s solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

Resources

We're Social

As the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai’s massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale with over 200,000 servers across 130 countries, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai’s portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7 monitoring.To learn why the top financial institutions, e-commerce leaders, media & entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.